


Lost

by Jamie_Thompson



Category: Original Work
Genre: Coming of Age, F/F, F/M, M/M, Middle School, Multi, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Rape/Non-con Elements, School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2018-12-25 09:23:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12032967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jamie_Thompson/pseuds/Jamie_Thompson
Summary: A very exciting and sad story following Alex, Skylar and their friends, in their quest to survive middle school. This story contains some events based off of things I've experienced and some are totally fictional. I'll let you guess which ones. Also, contains the depiction of sexual activity between minors so if you don't like hearing about teenage angst then you're in the wrong place.





	1. Dark Nights

ALEX

My stomach is doing somersaults as the teacher calls out names from the attendance sheet. “Alex”.My heart pounded, I panicked. “here!” I shouted, Not realizing how loud I'd been. All around me the kids began laughing. “Alright, everyone’s here.” The teacher spoke in a low quiet voice as if pointing out that I had been too loud. “Welcome to the grade 8 class of 2014, let’s all have a great year.” I put my head on my desk wishing I could just disappear.I could hear the kids next to me talking, making fun of me, I was short and scrawny and rarely interacted with others.I raised my head and my eyes wandered around the classroom. I didn’t know anyone so I had no friends. My eyes came to a stop on the far left three desks from the front, It was empty. I squinted my eyes trying to see the name on the tag but it was too far. The teacher announced that since it was the first day we had a “free day”. I grabbed my sketchbook and sat in a corner, shuffling through all the different ideas in my head. I was in a daydream about eye shape when one of the girls walked up and sat almost a foot away from me. “whatcha drawing?” I turned my head to the side. “why do you care?” I mumbled as my face turned bright red. She frowned and turned away. “I was just trying to be nice.” she pouted. I stared down at the blank paper. “I could draw you.” looking up at her my face burned even more red, realizing I’d said that out loud. She smiled and laughed. “Ok sure.” She sat cross-legged for the next few hours while I drew her face. Once I finished I was hesitant to show her. “Come on just show me! It’s my face!” she reached out and ripped the paper out of my hand. She stared intensely at the paper. Reaching into her back pocket she pulled out a black marker. She made some scribbles at the bottom and handed it back to me. “you’re good” she said hiding every last bit of emotion. “Do you wanna…. Um… be…-” “friends?" she interrupted. “sure.” she muttered turning her head to the side again. the girl stood up and walked away, I looked at the scribble on the bottom of the paper. “Sky”. The home bell rang and I went back to my desk to gather my things then headed outside to wait for my older sister to come and get me. I sat on the cold concrete steps and waited for twenty minutes with my face between my knees. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees was hypnotizing while the birds chirped. “Hey!” I raised my head, It was Avery, my sister. She walked up and crouched down right in front of me. “Sorry I'm late I was-” “You forgot!” I snapped, clearly upset. “Come on Alex, I didn’t forget.” My eyes filled with tears and I shouted, “You always forget about me!” Avery frowned, she lifted me up and carried me down the sidewalk. Tears rolled down my cheeks and soaked into her shirt. “I’m sorry.” she whispered in my ear the entire way home. We came home to a note on the counter. “ dinner is in the fridge, hope you had a good day xoxo, Mom.” Avery opened the fridge and her somewhat smile turned to a frown of disappointment. She looked at me and then back in the fridge. “ let's go get something else ok?” Nodding my head the last of my tears had dried and I realized how hungry I was. The next day I sat frozen in my desk, my eyes focused on the upside down piece of paper that laid in front of me. The classroom filled with chatter, bits, and pieces about people’s marks were caught by my ears. I slid the paper into my backpack without even looking at it, one of my classmates came up to me, “Hey Alex what did you get on your test?” I averted my eyes and tried to make something up, “I… um got a B,” I muttered quietly. The kid gave me a look of disbelief and walked away. I had never actually gotten a B on a test before, I usually had the lowest mark in the class. The bell rang for next period, Lunch. I found myself alone in the trees on the edge of the school grounds. seated in the spot in between the two biggest pines on the lot. I pulled out my sketchpad and started drawing. One of the boys walked up in sat directly in front of me. I said nothing and stared into his eyes. He turned his head away. ”Stop staring at me it’s creepy.” Lowering my head I dug at the dirt with my finger. “What do you want from me?” I mumbled. The boy looked at me again with an awkward smile on his face. “I just came to see if you wanted to be my friend. I saw you out here all alone.” I looked back into his eyes. “Fine, just don’t interrupt me when I'm drawing.” He turned and started walking away. “I’m Asher,” he called out. I said nothing and began to draw. I drew until the bell rang and decided to skip afternoon classes and go home. While walking I thought about if Asher really wanted to be my friend. I wandered up the driveway not paying attention and ran into a vehicle. I didn’t recognize it at first but as I walked beside it, my blood ran cold. Bursting through the door I called out to my mother. A woman in a police uniform stopped me before I reached the kitchen. She looked at me with a sympathetic frown. I pushed past her and stopped when I stepped in something wet. A sheet covered something on the floor and blood was spattered around it. My sister was on the ground crying she looked at me with tears streaming down her face. “Alex.” She said in a quiet shaky voice. I looked at the sheet on the floor. “Mom…” My eyes grew wide and my face had a horrifying expression. I turned around and bolted out the door, running until I couldn’t breathe. Dropping to my knees with tears in my eyes I tried to scream, but didn’t make a sound. The next few hours were a blur. I had pulled myself into a narrow alley and sat with my face between my knees silently crying out to my mother. I had calmed down sometime in the middle of the night, I got up and started to walk home, Avery was probably worried sick and most likely had the police out searching for me. I walked slowly down the dimly lit street and filled my lungs with the chilled night air stopping now and then to look up at the dark cloud covered sky. Just as I turned onto the street where our house was everything went black. The last thing I remember was a voice shouting out my name, the voice grew quieter as I slipped out of consciousness. The rest of the night was filled with strange noises and voices all around me. My head was pounded as I sat up in the bed. I was in alone in my room, it was like nothing had happened. I got up and went to the kitchen where Alex stood, she was making breakfast while humming a familiar tune. I sat down at the table and stared at the photos on the wall, still in disbelief that this was all happening. Avery set three plates down on the table, mine, her’s and… My eyes teared up and I had trouble breathing, Avery just sat there and ate her food. After a length of silence, she finally spoke. “ We’re moving.” I nearly fell off my chair as the words hit my ears, She had to be kidding, why now? why ever? 


	2. Mourning After

It’s been a week, my mind is still racing unable to accept the reality that our mom was dead. “Hey! Watch it kid.” Suddenly returning back from my daydream I dodged the mover, the entire house was packed up and we were moving. We weren’t going far, just across town to an apartment that Avery could afford with her minimum wage job. The movers were taking out the last of the boxes while Avery stood and supervised. “Alex!,” she said in an annoyed tone, “why don’t you walk through all the rooms and make sure we didn’t miss anything.” I rolled my eyes and began checking each room, pausing when I reached our mother’s bedroom. I took a deep breath and stepped inside, the comforting smell of her perfume still lingered in the air. My eyes slowly panned around the room and stopped at the closet, all the others were open except this one. I reached out and opened the door, lying on the floor was an envelope. “Alex!,” Avery called out. “Come on let’s go.” I quickly grabbed the envelope and stuffed it in my pocket just before Alex came into the room. She took a long breath and looked into my eyes, “Let’s get going,” she said softly. We climbed into the old beat up car that our mother used to drive and lead the way for the moving truck to the new apartment. I haven’t gone to school for a week, people probably won’t even notice so I don’t really care. When we arrived at the apartment I sat in the car for a while, just until the movers were done. A few hours later they were done and I slowly made my way up the stairs to the door, I noticed a lot in the everlasting three minutes it took me to make it to the fourth floor. The building was old and dark, lights flickered and the wallpaper was torn off in more spots that it was intact. I kept my head low while people passed, some tried to say hello but I kept moving. I was almost up to the last staircase when something hit me hard from behind. I fell forward and landed on my arm, “Alex? ” a voice called out. I looked up expecting to see Avery but it wasn’t her, it was Asher. “Sorry about that.” He chuckled and reached out his hand, my face turned a little red as I took his hand. He had to be younger than me, I'm 14 but you’d never know since I have the appearance of an eleven-year-old. I continued on up the stairs but something was off, Asher was close behind. When I got to the fourth-floor landing I picked up the pace, and like a little puppy, Asher followed. When I arrived the apartment door I looked back to see him go inside the door directly across the hall. “Well isn’t that just great,” I moaned as I walked in, closing the door behind me. “I’m in the kitchen,” Avery called out. I moved down the hall towards what I assumed was the kitchen and found Avery, she had almost completely unpacked all the boxes in the kitchen. “Your stuff is in the room at the end of the hall,” she said in a frilly voice. I made my way down the hallway and found my room, my stuff still packed in boxes. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the envelope, Staring at it like it was about to disappear. I ripped the top open and slid my finger inside to pull out the contents. Inside was a folded up letter, I fought back tears as I unfolded it and read what was written in my mother’s handwriting, a piece of paper fell as I unfolded the bottom of the note but I Ignored it. “Dear Avery and Alex, If you find this I am no longer with the both of you. Don’t let this get in the way of your life, be successful and happy. I love you both more than anything in this world, Love Mom. Ps. I left you both something to help you along the way. “ I looked down at the paper on the floor, it was upside down so I bent down and picked it up. It was a paper with a bank account number, it had mine and Avery’s names on it. I got up and ran into the kitchen where Avery was unpacking and shoved the paper in her face and shouted, “Look! Mom left us something!” She took the paper and scanned it for a moment. “Oh my god!” She shouted. “Alex, do you know what this is?!” she shouted. “There is six hundred and fifty thousand dollars in this account!” She screamed. I could swear she was going to pass out, my heart pounded but I wasn’t sure why. There was a knock at the door and shakily went to open it, it was Asher. “Hey What’s-” I cut him off and practically wrapped myself around him as tears rolled down my cheeks. To my surprise he didn’t reject me, he held me close for a short while. Eventually, I stopped crying and he asked what he was trying to before. “I came over to ask if I could stay the night?” he said nervously. This came as a shock to me, I had that deer in the headlights look. “My parents are going out of town and they have a sitter for my siblings and I asked if I could go to a friends house.” I was able to process that a lot faster than before and turned to ask Avery, “A-very!” I called out. “Can I have a friend stay over?” A few seconds later she replied, “Sure, just keep it down ok?!” I turned back to Asher and he looked kind of excited, he spouted something then ran into his apartment and within seconds he came back out with a backpack full of whatever a 13-year-old kid could think of. We went straight to my room and Asher immediately stated, “Wow you haven’t even unpacked yet!” he set his bag down and ran over to where the mattress was leaning up against the wall and pulled it down onto the floor. It was six o'clock and we were bored out of our minds. Alex ordered a pizza that seemed to be taking forever while Asher and I laid lifeless on the mattress. Suddenly Asher sat up and looked me dead in the eyes. “Wanna see something cool?” He asked with an evil smile. I thought for a second then agreed. “Follow me.” He whispered. We walked out of the bedroom and down the hall, almost to the door when Alex bellowed, “Where do you think you’re going?” We froze in place, “J-Just out-side.” I stuttered. “Don’t be too long, the pizza will be here soon.” With that Asher and I ran out the door and all the way down to the building’s storage floor. “This way.” He whispered. I followed close behind him as we navigated through the long hallway with doors on each side of us. I wasn’t paying attention when Asher suddenly stopped in front of one of the doors and pulled a key out of his pocket. When he opened the door the room was dark but he just walked in, thinking nothing of it I followed him in, then it went black. “Asher?” I called out. Something struck me from behind and pushed me to the floor, but to my surprise, I landed on something soft, a mattress maybe? I felt something pin me down, I was about to shout when a hand covered my mouth. “Be quiet!” a voice said, it was Asher! Then the room lit up as Asher flicked on a lamp. Still, on top of me he began to burst out laughing, I didn’t find it very funny but I laughed anyway. Asher collapsed on top of me and just laid there. His hands gripping onto my shirt, holding on as if his life depended on it. His breathing was heavy and his body was shaking. We just laid there silent, I didn’t move an inch. Finally, Asher got up and opened the door. “Come on, the pizza is probably here,” he said as if nothing had happened. I was confused and a little scared, but I followed him back anyway. When we got back we acted like nothing happened, ate pizza and watched T-V for a while. I sat there, thinking about what happened, asking myself, “what just happened?” 

I laid silently on my bed, only the sound of Asher’s breathing filling my ears, my mind raced, hundreds of questions without answers. I’m not sure when I fell asleep but I woke up to the warm summer sun shining through the curtains. Asher was still asleep moaning and grunting, probably dreaming. I got up and wandered into the kitchen only to find Avery making breakfast. “Where’s your friend?” she said with a mouthful of bacon. I looked back towards the hallway, “still asleep, I guess.” Avery turned around and looked at me. “Well go wake him up, breakfast Is almost ready.” Nodding my head I made my way back to the bedroom. I opened the door and right in front of me stood Asher who had nothing but a pair of neon green boxer briefs on, I blushed a little as I told him that breakfast was ready. We sat in silence while we ate, finally, Avery broke the silence. “So when are you going back to school Alex?” I looked down at my plate. “I don’t want to go back.” Asher finally caught onto what was happening, “Come on Jamie you gotta come back, everyone misses you.” I just sat there and played with my fork. “Even that girl you talked to, I think her name’s Skylar. She misses you too.” I let out a long sigh and looked at Asher. “Tomorrow.” A smile grew wide on his face and we continued with our meal. The rest of the day was filled with video games and movies, eventually, the boredom caught up to us after dinner. We sat in the living room, Asher upside down on the couch, me on the floor, eyes glued to the tv. I was just about to pass out when the phone rang. Avery answered with an annoyed tone, several uh-huh’s later she hung up and walked over to us. “I have to go help a friend out. You two gonna be alright?” I looked at Asher who had a devious grin on his face then looked back at Avery and nodded.


	3. Dying in LA

I woke to a cool breeze against my face, my eyes opened wide as I realized what day it is. I jumped out of bed and ran straight to Jake’s room, flung the door open and dove into his bed. I was greeted with groans and a stern “ get the hell off me you brat!”. Jake is 21 and He moved to L.A a year ago. He always played with me and our younger brother Dax when summer came around, but things changed this year. He seemed different. I ignored him and found my way under the covers and snuggled up in his arms, Jake looked at me and smiled. Suddenly he grabbed my arms and pinned me against the bed, “got ya”, he said quietly and began his methods of torture.Then there was a knock at her door, it was Mom. he pulled away quickly and threw me to the side, “just a sec” he said calmly. I pulled the covers over top of me halfway but let it look like he had just got out, I closed my eyes and listened to their conversation. Jake opened the door and my mom asked if he had seen me. He smiled and turned his head to the bed where I appeared to be sleeping. Mom made a bunch of comments about what a good brother he is and how he really loves me, but then she asked another question. “do you think you can take Sky and Dax back with you to L.A?” Jake was shocked, “Why?” he managed to spit out. Mom laughed. “your father and I are going overseas for a while and we can’t take them with us.” They talked some more and agreed that we’d be going to live with Jake in L.A where Dax and I would start school again after summer break was over. I must have passed out because I woke up in the car with Jake and Dax, they seemed really happy, but why? When we arrived at Jake’s apartment it was dark, I don’t even remember getting out of the car when Jake said “welcome home!”, he flicked on bright lights to reveal a really big room with lots of windows a big living room and a huge kitchen. He began to gloat over how proud of himself he was and how he worked really hard at a part-time job, which was a lie, mom and dad paid for the whole thing but what did I care. he took the bags up a set of stairs that I think went to the bedrooms and called for us to come up. I entered a giant room with a huge bed, TV, and bathroom. “This is your room”, he said, Dax is right across the hall. I stood in the middle of the room and just stared at the bed. The next few nights were quiet, I only came out of my room to eat. Jake was busy with his job and Dax just hung around with me. Finally, the weekend came and Jake had the next three days off, he said he had all three days planned with stuff for the three of us to do. I was laying in bed half asleep when he burst through the door, I didn’t move at all. Dax ran in and leapt onto the bed and began smothering me with a pillow until I’d had enough. I sat up and stared dead centre in his eyes for what seemed like an endless amount of time, all he did was laugh and said, “come on, go out and have fun.” I rolled my eyes and threw myself back down into the bed. Jake walked over “Here, put this on.” he handed me a hanger with a white summer dress. I looked at the clothes, then him, then the door, then him again. Jake just stood there with his arms crossed. “Well? Go on, get dressed.” Several minutes of silence passed and I finally gave up and changed. I shot a glare over at Dax and he covered his face while giggling. Once I finished Jake handed me a black card. “Mom told me to give you this, it’s your spending money,” I took the card and stuffed it into my bra. “Well? What are you waiting for? Go explore, just be back by dinner.” “Wait, you’re not coming with us?”. Jake looked at me and smiled. “Only if you want me to.” I looked at him and gave him the meanest glare I could, while simultaneously attempting to telepathically lecture him about how irresponsible it would be to let a Thirteen-year-old girl wander the streets of L.A with a seven-year-old. As we walked down the somewhat crowded streets of the city my sight was filled with bright signs and tall buildings. Jake, Dax and I walked around for about an hour when we came across an ATM. “I wonder how much Mom and Dad gave me to spend?” I walked up to the machine and pulled out the card. On the back there was a number, “2327,” that must be the pin. I checked the balance on the account and almost fell over when I saw the number on the screen. Jake just stood there laughing, I guess they really wanted to make sure I had enough money. We spent the rest of the day wandering around in a shopping mall shuffling from shop to shop. By the time we got home it was time for dinner. I tried to sneak upstairs without Jake noticing but just as I reached the top he called out. “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, go wash up.” I opened the door to my room and collapsed onto the bed. I passed out and when I opened my eyes Dax was standing over me. “Dinner’s ready!” Dax said with his childish enthusiasm The rest of the night was filled with small talk and awkward silence, I could already tell that summer break was going go by quickly. Eventually, the last day of summer break came, a record-breaking heat wave had hit and I was stuck with Dax in Jake’s cold dark apartment. I had planned to laze around all day but that was ground to a halt when I got a text. I didn’t even get the chance to read the full thing when my phone started ringing, It was an unknown caller. I stared down at the screen and without even thinking I answered. For a couple seconds it was silent, but I eventually picked up on someone breathing on the other end. “What do you want?” I was about to ask again when the other person suddenly hung up. “Wrong number I guess.” The text read. “You can’t run from us.” I just sat there confused, I wasn’t worried but something seemed strange. Jake would be home in half an hour so there was nothing to worry about, that is until the door flew open and three strange men came rushing in. I froze, trying to scream, to call out to my brother, but the fear was choking me. Two of the men started towards me, but I just sat there, consumed by the shock and fear. They grabbed me.. threw me to the ground.. laughed... I could feel the tears streaming down my face as their laughter grew louder. My mind was racing, all I could think about was where Dax was. The next while was a blur, I couldn’t remember what happened, I didn’t know where I was. It was dark.. cold.. and the air was dry. My body was trembling, my bones ached, my head pounded. I felt so weak, no control over what was happening, no strength to fight back.


	4. The First Day

I sat on my bed with my arms wrapped around my pillow, my face filled with tears. Today was the first day of school, I had no intention of going, but Jake was basically pushing me out the door. “I don’t want you to stay here alone.” I just looked at him with cold eyes. He didn’t budge, I gave up and started walking. I knew I'd be late but that was kinda the plan. The streets were busy, almost overwhelming. I kept my head down and walked fast, trying not to bump into anyone while dragging Dax along. When we got to the school there were a few late kids running in, I followed them to the office. There was a big bulletin board with the class postings, I found Dax’s name and walked him to his classroom. I walked back to the board and looked for my name, I found it and headed for the classroom. As I approached the door I stopped and listened to the noises inside. I heard the teacher say something about free time and waited for things to get loud before entering. I slipped into the classroom and looked around. Everyone already had their groups of friends, everyone except two that is, a girl and a boy. Each was on opposite sides of the room, I choose the girl first. I walked up to her and sat down right in front of her. I must have startled her because she started to stutter. “W- wha- what are you doing?” she cried out. I looked at her and decided, we were going to be friends. “I saw you all alone and I’m alone too and…” I struggled to spit out the last sentence. “Do you wanna be friends!” I nearly shouted but caught myself just before I got too loud. Her expression changed from frightened to what looked like delight. Tears started forming in her eyes as she nodded vigorously. I cracked a smile for the first time in a while. I glanced over at the boy and he was still alone, curled up in a corner with some sort of notepad. I looked at the girl. “What’s your name?” she wiped away the tears on her face. “Annie” “Ok Annie, I’m gonna talk to that boy over there and see if he’ll be friends with us too.” Annie looked at me with her huge blue eyes and gave me an encouraging smile. I stood up and marched over to the boy, and stopped when I was right in front of him. “Watcha drawing? “Hmph, I was just trying to be nice.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look up at me, my face turned a little red. “I could draw you…” the boy mumbled. I jerked my head and looked directly at him, I watched as his face turned pure red. “Fine,” I said as I sat right in front of him. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, then he looked up from the paper and smiled. “All done.” I immediately reached for the paper and looked at the drawing. He tried to take it back from me but I wasn’t gonna give it up that easily. “It’s my face!” I nearly shouted. I stepped back and looked the picture over for real this time. In truth, it was really good, but I wasn’t about to blurt that out. I pulled a marker out of my pocket and wrote my name on the bottom, then handed it back to him. “Hey do you think we could be-” he started to say but I knew what he was gonna ask so Interrupted him. “Sure.” and with that, I walked back to Annie. I didn’t realize that I’d forgot to ask his name, but it was already too late. The bell rang and kids flooded out the door and, I looked around and the boy was nowhere to be seen. I went to pick up Dax and Annie and ended up walking home with us, turned out, we actually live in the same building. The next morning Dax and I waited by the building entrance for Annie, and for once I was looking forward to something. We walked together, talked about random things, it was a good start to a morning. We dropped Dax off and got to our classroom and I sat at my desk feeling like I could do anything, but my mood changed when the bell rang and everyone sat down. It was like something was ripped out of me, I felt sick. I stood up and walked over to the teacher. “I don’t feel so good.” the teacher picked up the phone and dialled a few numbers.“Head on down to the nurse’s office.” I nodded my head and walked down the hallway while holding my arms around my stomach. I opened the door and the room was empty, inside were a few chairs, a table, and a bed. I sat down on the edge of the bed still holding my stomach as the nurse walked in. “Not feeling so good huh?” the way she spoke reminded me of my mother. “Why don’t you just lay down for a bit and I’ll see about getting you some juice.” I laid my head back onto the pillow and closed my eyes. I could hear the hum of the air conditioner as it lulled me to sleep. As I drifted off visions of the incident flashed through my mind, I couldn’t take it. I opened my eyes and gasped for air, looking around the room trying to remember where I was. The room looked different, sunlight peeked through the blinds warming the air. I looked at the clock, “12:57 pm” It was almost past lunch, my stomach didn’t hurt anymore so I decided to go back to class. I entered the empty classroom and sat at my desk, the blinding sun shining brightly through the windows. The bell rang and kids started piling into the room, but much to my surprise I couldn’t see the boy from yesterday. As I was lost in my thoughts something grabbed my shoulder, I turned around with an awful look on my face, images of the other day flashed through my mind. Finally, I focused and realized it was just Annie, a bead of sweat rolled down my face as I tried to calm down. “You don’t look so good, are you still not feeling well?” Annie voiced sounding concerned. I just nodded my head, no words. She grabbed my arm and walked me back to the nurse’s office, as we walked my stomach started to hurt again. The minute we walked through the door, the nurse cried out of concern and ran over with a bucket. I’m not sure how she knew, but within seconds of that bucket appearing in front of me, I began to vomit. My throat burned as I emptied my already empty stomach, each time I gasped for air more would come up. Poor Annie had to step outside to keep herself from spilling her own guts. Eventually, my stomach stopped pushing acid up my throat and I nearly collapsed onto the cool tile floor, the nurse ran over to the phone and started talking to someone. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, everything was going fuzzy, my vision going black, ears ringing, limbs numb. The last thing I remember was a voice speaking softly in my ear. “It’s alright, you’re going to be just fine…” Every time I close my eyes, I see pieces of the time I was taken. Their faces were blurred and their hands were all over me, I could feel the pain like it was still that day. When I woke up I didn’t know where I was, but I didn’t have the strength to be afraid. “Look she’s waking up!” I turned my head to the side only to see Annie at the edge of the bed. “Where am I?” Annie started to choke up, “You’re in the hospital… I-” Annie was nearly in tears as she struggled to spit out the words. But there was no need, I get it now, I was taken to the hospital and the person who stayed by my side was her.” How Romantic.” I coughed. My throat was burning, and it hurt like hell to speak but Annie’s reaction to those words was priceless. Her pale cheeks glowed bright red and she almost started laughing. The hospital nurse walked in and started doing standard checks to make sure I was ok, when she was done she looked at me and smiled. “Your throat is a little raw but you’ll be fine in a few days, as for eating…” She looked at Annie then back at me. “You’re going to be eating a lot of Ice cream. The nurse left and I let my head sink into the pillow. “You really scared me you know,” Annie said getting a little more serious. “I know I’m sorry.” I croaked while I stared at the ceiling. “I wonder where that boy was today?”  
The next day I stayed home, Annie even skipped school just to make sure I wasn’t alone. Dax begged me to let him stay home, and if I'm being honest I didn’t want to be alone. We spent most of our day on the couch watching tv, eating ice cream. “Doctor’s orders,” Annie called it. By noon Dax was getting restless, “I wanna go do something!” he complained. I looked at Annie, she shrugged, “I don’t mind, If you’re up for it?” I looked over at Dax, he looked back at me with big eyes pleading for me to agree. “Alright,” I said trying to sound like it was a bother. We walked down the streets, Dax and I amazed at the buildings and the people. Annie just laughed at us like we were tourists coming to America for the first time. We found an ice cream store and Dax bolted straight for the counter. Annie and I just laughed, the kid had been eating ice cream all day and still wanted more. I bought Dax a cone and continued on, If I had to eat any more ice cream I think I'd puke. As we walked down the streets I noticed things that I normally wouldn’t, It was kind of exciting to explore such a big city. Things just might turn out ok…


	5. You+Me=

As Asher and I walked up the sidewalk toward the school my stomach wrenched. for some reason I was nervous but I couldn’t figure out why. Was it the girl? My Sister? My Mother…? I shook off the nerves and continued walking into the school. We reached the classroom and I stopped in the doorway. My eyes scanned the room looking for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found. I stepped into the classroom and sat at my desk. Asher was almost on the other side of the room and every now and then he would glance over at me and smile. By the time the bell rang for lunch my body felt like the life had been drained from it. Kids were coming up to me asking me questions and interrogating me like I was a criminal. I stood outside the boy's bathroom waiting for Asher, but a few minutes passed and he hadn’t come out. I braced myself for the chance that I might walk in on him doing his business and pushed the door open. I walked around the corner to see two boys standing in front of an open stall. One of the boys looked over at me and chuckled. “You gotta see this.” I stepped in front of the open door and inside was a boy with his pants around his ankles, and on the floor, Asher was on his knees in front of the boy. I stood there in total shock, had I been wrong to assume he was so innocent? I looked back at the two boys who were still laughing. One of them looked at me and said. “You wanna get in on this?” I froze, the thought of being a part of what was going on in this bathroom gave me butterflies. I shook my head no and proceeded to exit the bathroom. Just as I was about to open the door one of the boys grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. “Make sure you don’t tell anyone or else.” The boy whispered into my ear. I nodded and pulled open the door. I walked down the hallway still shocked from what just happened. I felt sick so I called Avery to come get me. I walked out of the school and sat on the edge of the sidewalk and waited for Avery to pick me up. I held my face in my hands and held back tears as millions of thoughts raced through my mind. Should I have stayed? Was he doing what I thought he was? I heard footsteps beside me and I looked up. Asher stood above me with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face. I put my face back into my hands and kept trying to hold back the tears. Seconds later Avery pulled up in the car and I got up to open the back door. I looked at Asher and said. “ well? You coming or not?” Asher smiled again and climbed into the back seat. The entire ride home was silent. Only the sound of the engine broke the silence. When we got home, Asher and I went to our secret spot in the storage area and sat on the old mattress. Asher closed the door and flicked on the little lamp beside him. I had butterflies in my stomach and there was only one thing on my mind. I mustered up the courage to speak and asked him. “What were you doing in the bathroom with those boys?” Asher looked at me and smiled. “It’ll be easier if I just show you. Asher sat up and moved to the edge of the mattress. He crawled up between my legs pushing them open and began unbuttoning my jeans. He pulled them down slightly exposing my red boxer briefs, Asher smiled and lowered his head toward my crotch. I gasped as his lips touched the outside of my underwear. I could feel myself getting hard and began to get butterflies again. I gripped the top edge of the mattress as Asher progressed, he pushed up my shirt and ran his tongue up my stomach. Then he lifted his head and his lips pressed against mine. His hand moved over my briefs, I could feel the warmth of his hand as he slipped it inside the waistband… His hand was so warm against my skin as it moved around.   
A couple days passed before I was ready to speak to Asher. My mind couldn’t grasp what happened and I pushed it away. I walked out into the hallway expecting to see him like any other day, but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was avoiding me? I continued down the hall past a crowd of people, and as I passed I glanced over at the small group huddled around a locker. A boy was crouched down, writing something on the door of the locker. The group started laughing and walked away, I stuck around and read what was written on the corner of the locker. But before I could make out what it said the bell rang for the next period. I walked into the classroom and the same group of kids laughed as I came in the door, when I sat at my desk there was a piece of paper underneath, when I picked it up the kids laughed again, I got up and left, somehow I knew what it was and snuck off to the bathroom. I sat in the stall with my feet up on the toilet so nobody could see me. Slowly, I unfolded the paper and read the messy note scribbled across it. “Alex+Asher=Fags” I could feel the tears in my eyes but didn’t know why I was crying. How could anyone possibly know what we did? There was no way… unless… The bathroom door burst open, some boys were laughing as they entered the room. Their laughter echoed off the concrete walls, one of the boys started kicking open the doors to the stalls. I was in the second last stall, and with each bang of the stall doors, he got closer. When the boy got to my door he stopped, I heard him whisper to his friends, “psst, watch the door”. A bead of sweat ran down my neck as the room turned dead silent.


End file.
